Baltimore Bird Club

The Baltimore Bird Club is a Chapter of the Maryland Ornithological Society serving Baltimore City and Baltimore County since 1945.

After more than seven decades, the BBC remains a viable and healthy club dedicated to bird watching, bird science, and bird conservation. Our core values and activities have remained the same and our dedicated corps of volunteers continues to replenish itself. But there has been a fundamental change in birding since 1945—the introduction of electronics! The next few decades promise to introduce some significant changes in how we bird and what we know about birds.

The BALTIMORE BIRD CLUB welcomes anyone who has an interest in birds, whether a novice or experienced ornithologist, and whether you enjoy watching birds at your feeder or traveling throughout the State. Our members learn from one another and are willing to share their knowledge. Membership in the Chapter includes membership in the Maryland Ornithological Society. You will find membership in the BALTIMORE BIRD CLUB of the Maryland Ornithological Society to be a rewarding and enlightening experience.

Monthly lectures and slide shows are usually held on the first Tuesday of each month, September-November and March-May at the Greenhouse Classroom at Cylburn Arboretum. In 2018 we meet on Nov. 13, not Nov. 6, to avoid Election Day. Doors open at 7:00 pm for socializing and snacks, lecture starts about 7:20 pm.

Board meetings are usually held at 7:00 pm on the second Tuesday of each month, also at the Greenhouse Classroom. While only authorized Board members have a vote, any Club member is welcome to attend and participate in discussions.

The BALTIMORE BIRD CLUB welcomes anyone who has an interest in birds, whether a novice or experienced ornithologist, and whether you enjoy watching birds at your feeder or traveling throughout the State. Our members learn from one another and are willing to share their knowledge. Membership in the Chapter includes membership in the Maryland Ornithological Society. You will find membership in the BALTIMORE BIRD CLUB of the Maryland Ornithological Society to be a rewarding and enlightening experience.

Membership year is September 1 through August 31. Individual and Household members joining in February, March, or April may pay the half-year rate. A full year’s dues received after April 30 will be applied to the next membership year.

*Chapter Only membership is available only to MOS members who are already members of another MOS chapter or who are MOS life members.

This list is designed to provide the birder with an idea of what may be expected in any given season. Seasonal abundance is shown in the following table for the 266 species that regularly occur here, as documented in the third edition of The Field List of the Birds of MD, aka The Yellow Book, by Marshall J. Iliff, Robert F. Ringler and James Stasz (1996). The species order follows that of the 2012 AOU Checklist. There are also links to species accounts for each bird found in Wikipedia and in All About Birds, the online bird guide of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The idea for adding the links, and the link themselves, were provided to BBC by Alex Lima, who describes himself as “a curious person with peculiar tastes that likes organizing lists.” Thank you Alex for helping us out! There is also a list of an additional 73 species listed as “accidental” or “historical” that have occurred in Baltimore at least once in recorded history, though many of these are seen at intervals in the appropriate habitat. Please send comments or corrections to Terry Ross.

• The goal of Lights Out Baltimore! is “to make Charm City safe for migratory birds by turning out decorative lighting in the city during peak migration seasons, between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., and to advocate for bird-safe building design that makes glass and windows visible to birds.” Learn more at the Lights Out Baltimore site.